Reducing the Side Effects of Fraxel^™ SR Resurfacing by Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy

Background: Fraxel^(TM) SR (FSR) resurfacing has become a popular aesthetic procedure. Although the enhanced collagen synthesis and shortened healing period make patients more comfortable, but side effects, such as redness, swelling, and pain often bother the patients. It is well known that hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) is beneficial to reduce swelling and edema and to improve wound healing. Aim and Objectives: We would like to investigate whether HBOT applied after FSR resurfacing, can improve our treatment quality by achieving the re-epithelization of skin and reducing the discomfort of the patients. Materials and Methods: Thirty eighty patients were recruited into this study to undergo FSR resurfacing. Of the 38 patients, 17 patients were allocated to the HBOT group and 21 to the control group (normal air). Prospectively, the basic data, photos, objective appearance, and subjective pain score, and record of downtime were consecutively collected for comparison. Results: Our results demonstrated that HBOT significantly reduced redness 48 hours after procedure (p=0.046) and shortened post-procedure downtime (p=0.001) in patients after FSR resurfacing. Pain relief is also significantly achieved in patients 24 hours (p=0.048) and 48 hours (p=0.033) after HBOT. Conclusion: HBOT applied immediately after FSR resurfacing, can improve our treatment quality by attenuating redness and shortening post-procedure downtime. We propose HBOT as an adjuvant therapeutic choice after FSR resurfacing.